On tour with.... Manchester United: Why America is finally taking the game seriously

Sportsmail's team of reporters will take you behind the scenes of what life is like on pre-season tour with the Barclays Premier League clubs travelling the globe this summer.

Here, Chris Wheeler offers his insight into Manchester United's early experience of America...

You don't need to see the tenfold increase in New England Revolution's attendance when Manchester United are in town or witness the stir in downtown Seattle as the Barclays Premier League champions arrive at their hotel flanked by a fleet of police cars to appreciate the popularity of Sir Alex Ferguson's side on this side of the water.

But even United will have to take a back seat this weekend in a country that seems to be finally taking soccer seriously.

The USA's appearance in the Women's World Cup Final would have been big news anyway.

The girls have enjoyed their own niche market for some time now and Sunday's showpiece against Japan in Frankfurt is expected to be the most watched women's game on American television since Brandi Chastain whipped off her shirt to reveal a black Nike sports bra after scoring the decisive penalty in a shootout with China in the 1999 Final.

Perhaps more significantly, however, will be events on United's doorstep in Seattle on Saturday. When Ferguson's squad last visited this part of the world to play Celtic in 2003, Major League Soccer was still finding its feet and the Seattle Sounders were a piece of history. A relic. A former NASL club, once home to Harry Redknapp, who had been defunct for 20 years.

Now restored as a shiny new franchise, the Sounders have emerged as the most vibrant club in MLS, and Saturday's game against Colorado Rapids at CenturyLink Field will be a sellout, just like every other home fixture since they rejoined America's top-flight two-and-a-half years ago.

Even Ferguson was surprised to learn that an average crowd of 37,000 is better than all but eight Premier League clubs.

'There are very encouraging signs that soccer is working here,' said the United boss, who was presented with a No 25 Sounders shirt to mark nearly a quarter of a century of service at Old Trafford when he gave a Press conference on Thursday. 'When we to Seattle here and played Celtic you could understand from the stadium they've got that there was the incentive to go forward. Now you're seeing the fruits of that.'

Serious business: but Sir Alex Ferguson and his team will have to take a back seat

The capacity will be almost doubled to 66,000 when the Sounders play United on a freshly-laid grass surface on Wednesday, but it is a sign of the growing stature of MLS that many of Seattle's passionate football fans would see picking up the points against Colorado as more important than humbling the champions of England.

Gone are the days when MLS was something of a laughing stock and its teams played to cavernous empty stadiums like the LA Rosebowl, New Jersey's Giants Stadium or the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

The Sounders are one of only three clubs in an ever-expanding 18-team league who do not have a soccer-specific stadium, as they call them here, but the crowds and strong local interest guarantee the club an equal footing with NFL's Seattle Seahawks who share the same owners and stadium.

They also offer something almost unique for MLS: a genuine local derby, even though 'local' might be stretching it a little bit. The introduction this season of franchises in Portland and Vancouver, where sellouts are also commonplace, has re-ignited old rivalries between the Timbers, Whitecaps and Sounders in the Pacific Northwest this season with up to 500 away fans - a concept almost unheard of in this huge country - making the trips up and down the coast between Oregon, Washington state and Canada.

In focus: Manchester United won their first tour game 4-1 against New England Revolution

Portland drew the battle lines last year by putting up a billboard just two blocks from Seattle's stadium that read: 'Portland, Oregon - Soccer City USA 2011'. Not quite as creative as that 'Welcome to Manchester' poster featuring Carlos Tevez that so enraged Ferguson, but he would certainly recognise the intention.

The United boss will welcome the opportunity to take stock during the club's week-long stay here after a hectic start to the tour. United flew into Boston on Monday, played the Revolution on Wednesday and then flew six hours cross-country to Seattle first thing on Thursday.

They were joined here on Friday by their four England Under-21 internationals, Danny Welbeck, Phil Jones, Chris Smalling and Tom Cleverley. New £17.8m goalkeeper David De Gea will follow on Sunday, although none of them are expected to play against the Sounders as they look to build up their fitness after an extended break.

There are, of course, the obligatory commitments for sponsors and marketing partners. Captain Nemanja Vidic was due to appear at the Nike store in Seattle on Friday night and United will train at Nike headquarters in Beaverton while they are out on the west coast before kicking off another round of commercial engagements for shirt sponsors Aon on their next stop in Chicago.

No-one mixes business and sport quite like the Americans but, in the week they were once again listed by Forbes magazine as the most valuable sports team in the world, United will be happy to oblige.